The 15th Other Minds Festival of New Music (OM 15) began with a panel discussion with some of the composers and performers featured in the first night’s concert, held on March 4, 2010. Joining moderator Charles Amirkhanian on stage was, Clemens Merkel, first violinist of the Quatuor Bozzini, Swiss composer Jürg Frey, and vocalist and composer Lisa Bielawa. Frey describes the inspiration and structure of the minimal, microtonal composition which was to be heard later in the evening, while Clemens provides a demonstration of the technique required to perform it, as well as commenting on the physical challenge of playing very slowly over a long duration of time. Lisa Bielawa then discusses her song cycle based on texts by Franz Kafka, and compares the vocal stylings of Carla Kilstadht, for whom the piece was composed, with those of her own work with the Philip Glass Ensemble, and the masterful avant-garde singing of Cathy Berberian. The panel then concludes with an excerpt from a film about Edgar Varèse, featuring an interview with his student and friend, Chou Wen-Chung, the evening’s third featured composer, who was unfortunately unable to attend the Festival due to poor health.

To see the full concert program guide go to: http://www.otherminds.org/shtml/OM15program.shtml

plus-circle Add Review

comment

Reviews